At least thirteen people are said to have taken their own lives in the notorious British Post Office scandal. This is according to a new report in the investigation into the affair, in which hundreds of post office managers were wrongly accused of theft.
Between 1999 and 2015, nearly a thousand post office managers across the United Kingdom were prosecuted for so-called cash shortages that they could not explain. They have been prosecuted and all but a few dozen have been convicted. More than two hundred of them received a prison sentence.
Those prosecutions were unjustified. The cause of the cash shortages lay in the Horizon software system that post office managers had to use. That system was purchased around 2000 to automatically track office sales. The management of the Post Office, a state-owned company, accused postmasters of embezzlement.
The report on Tuesday states that the Post Office and software manufacturer Fujitsu knew that the fault lay with Horizon. Yet the postal company continued to litigate and use the software system. It led to people going bankrupt, losing their homes and sometimes even committing suicide.
Six post office managers and seven close relatives took their own lives, according to relatives, because of the scandal. According to the investigation, 59 people considered suicide or attempted to do so. “I cannot rule out that more people died by suicide,” said Wynn Williams, the former judge who leads the investigation committee.
‘Consequences are disastrous’
“The consequences for the wrongly prosecuted and accused post office managers and their relatives are disastrous,” Williams summarized the report. According to him, it is impossible to determine how many people are victims of the scandal, but there are approximately ten thousand who are eligible for benefits.
Several programs have been set up to compensate the victims, but their implementation “is plagued by unfair delays,” the report states. The British government, the Post Office and Fujitsu are now working together to develop another new system to accommodate the victims.
The scandal came to light years ago by a group of post office managers and their partners, who wanted to prove together that they were innocent. It then took years before it was picked up further. Last year the dramatized documentary Mr. Bates vs The Post Office was released, which put the case higher on the agenda.
Post Office says it regrets consequences
The Post Office says it “deeply regrets” that the state-owned company’s actions have affected so many people. “We recognize that the victims of this scandal need answers, but also justice and satisfaction. The investigation is still ongoing and therefore we do not yet have a complete picture of how and why the scandal could take place.”
Tuesday’s report is the first report in the investigation into the scandal. In a subsequent report, the committee will delve deeper into the question of who is to blame for the scandal and how it could have been prevented.